NXP Assymetric dual core

[shaiko]

Hello,

I've been looking into the Cortex M4 microcontroller.
Many IC vendors offer this ARM core - but one company stands out from the rest...NXP

NXP offers an assymetric dual core solution - M4 and M0 on the same chip.
The motivation behind this is to free M4 from "peripherial management" to allow it to do heavy processing.

I'd like to hear some educated opinions about this approach. Do you think it's just a marketing gimmick or is it a true advantage to have the M0 ?

More importantly, will it make code writing simpler or will it complicate it ?

 

[bigdogguru]

I'd like to hear some educated opinions about this approach. Do you think it's just a marketing gimmick or is it a true advantage to have the M0 ?

No I do not believe it is just a gimmick. There are numerous designs, including some of my own, which pair a microcontroller to handle USB, CAN, etc traffic with another microcontroller or FPGA. The technique allows the the main microcontroller to be selected removes the requirement of the central microcontroller or FPGA to be selected for the systems main task or tasks, rather than offering the required USB, CAN, etc port. Of course this also offloads the port and traffic management to the secondary processor.

How many times have you seen a PIC, AVR or 8051 incorporated into a design with another microcontroller/FPGA for the sole purpose of providing USB connectivity?

More importantly, will it make code writing simpler or will it complicate it ?

Define simpler? :lol:

What the concept will do is streamline the coding by dividing the tasks among their respective ARMs. For example, the code for the Cortex-M4 will not have to manage interrupt drive events pertaining to the USB port, which allows the coding for the Cortex-M4 to be optimized and streamlined for the designs major tasks.

That is my two cents on the subject.

BigDog

 

[shaiko]

Good points.

BTW,
Do you have any experience with the cortex M4 ?
How does it compare to a low end DSP like the TI C2000 for example ?

 

[bigdogguru]

Do you have any experience with the cortex M4 ?

Yes. ST Microelectronics was kind enough to send me a STM32F4-Discovery Dev board just a few days ago. So I have not had a lot of experience with the Cortex-M4 and unfortunately not any experience with the NXP LPC435X series to which you are referring. However, it is only a matter of time before I purchase a LPC435X Dev Board, maybe when Embedded Artists releases a board.

I'm quite impressed with the Cortex-M4 so far, ask me again in a few weeks.

I looked up the STM32F4-Discovery and they are quite reasonable in price, at least compared to the available LPC435X Dev Boards.

Mouser STM32F4-Discovery

How does it compare to a low end DSP like the TI C2000 for example ?

I've not had any experience the TI C2000 series, so I am unable to make a comparison.

So many processors, so little time!

BigDog